


No Matter the Circumstances

by Shescella



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24294619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shescella/pseuds/Shescella
Summary: Aerith walks into her boyfriend cheating on her, and so, her feet magically takes her to a place she hadn't visited in a long time. [AU Clerith ONESHOT]
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 13
Kudos: 140





	No Matter the Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> Written in half a day because I was feeling some drama and I wanted some daily angst in my life. College AU, and remember this is a fic and is dramatic for a reason! Enjoy~`

Aerith dropped all the groceries in her hand, along with her stomach as the eggs splattered against hardwood floors, leaking its contents through the flimsy cardboard box they were contained in. Instantly at the sound, the pairs of arms and legs that sprawled against the kitchen counter jolted apart from each other, and a bra deafeningly dropped onto the floor, seeming to crack open the very grounds of the earth below it as Aerith directed her eyes to stare blankly at the scandalous piece of article.

"A-a-aerith!"

In less than fifteen seconds, the clothes were fixed up and put back in place in an appropriate manner, including the bra that had escaped from its owner's body. If Aerith hadn't seen the cracked eggs against the floor, perhaps she could've deluded herself that what she just saw was just a figment of her imagination—a mere byproduct of a hard day of work at the flower shop.

But no, the eggs were still terribly cracked, and so was her heart.

Aerith casted her eyes away from the eggs and onto the blonde woman whose makeup was in dire need of a retouching with the lipstick smearing against her cheek. Uninterested with the bitch, Aerith steeled her eyes towards the one who she truly wanted to question.

"Aerith, I thought you were still at work?" Zack asked lamely, awkwardly fumbling for the phone in his pocket to check the time, but he didn't need to.

"I got off work three hours early," deadpanned Aerith. She then turned her eyes back to the woman momentarily. "You. Aren't you gonna scram already? What are you looking at?" The brunette jerked a thumb over to the door—they must've been eating each other's faces off so loudly that they couldn't hear her enter. "Go when you still have the dignity to."

Without another word, the blonde gathered all her belongings before she fled the scene, not even batting another eyelash at the couple as she briskly walked past them.

"Wait, Wendy!"

"Wendy," Aerith repeated coldly as the blonde never looked back and slammed the door behind her shut. When her lover—no, her _ex_ -lover—dared to bring his eyes back onto hers, Aerith shot both her eyebrows up in exasperation. " _Wendy?_ "

Zack focused his attention back onto her icy figure. "Look, Aerith, I can explain—"

"Oh, no worries, I think I got it, Zack. Good acting, by the way," Aerith sharply interjected as she referred to his expression. If she hadn't just witnessed her boyfriend _cheating_ on her, she would've thought he was going to cry, and she would've asked him what was wrong and comfort him like she always did for so many years, but she didn't, because that obviously wasn't the case. "You'll get to ring up _Wendy_ once I leave—which is now."

"Aerith, I'm sorry—that girl. She's just a fling, you know that you're the one that I lo—"

"Can it, you asshole!"

Her cool instantly blew, and she was pretty surprised she even kept the appearance for that long before she picked up whatever eggs were unscathed from the drop and pitched it at him, hitting a homerun as it landed right on his head. "And this!" Aerith desperately fumbled with her collection of keys as she broke her fingernail trying to tear open the ring just by a sliver and slip the key out. She threw it randomly against the ground, listening to it ring as its metal clanked against the marble counter. "Have your damn apartment key back."

"If you could just let me explain! Aerith, baby," Zack cooed, raven hair oozing with egg liquids as he tried to approach her. "That girl doesn't mean anything to me."

Aerith didn't say anything as he crept closer, taking her silence as a good sign. He reached his hands out and cradled her elbows, eyes earnestly peering into hers. "Baby."

Aerith reached out and cupped the side of his face, hand feathery against his cheek. Just when he thought she was giving him a chance to explain, she slapped him. Hard.

"Don't touch me with those hands because I don't want _Wendy_ -germs," spat Aerith, and she kicked him in the shin, causing him to double over as she fixed her hair. "After all I've done for you after your grandpa passed away, this is how you repay me? Bye, youdonkey's ass!"

Just like Wendy, but with more class than ever before, Aerith turned around and stomped out of the front door, leaving Zack to eat her dust as he recovered from her kick and wiped his face of the eggs that dripped across his face.

Honestly, Aerith didn't know where she was heading. Her home of three months was just right behind her where she had left it, and her mind started to think about how she was so stupid to agree to moving in together without more careful thoughts. But then she couldn't blame herself—was it too much to believe a couple was stable after three years? This stability was what convinced Aerith, and so, like a fool, she had ended her lease to her previous apartment and unloaded all her bags into his place.

"Damn it!" she cursed, and she felt apologetic for scaring the poor elderly man who was just walking his dog in the neighborhood. She kicked the metal pole of the street lamp, as if doing so would magically make her feel better, but she didn't know what she was thinking when her toes immediately curled up in her shoe in pain. "Damn!"

With no food, no car, and definitely no roof anymore, Aerith Gainsborough was beginning to find herself in a tight spot. A part of her wondered if she should've just held it in, just for long enough so that she could pack her bags and find temporary shelter somewhere before she left his sorry ass, but she stopped herself from having those useless thoughts. She wouldn't have dared to stay any longer with the cheating asshole, so as she kept walking aimlessly through the streets, projection was her best friend to keep her sane and convinced—convinced that it was _definitely_ not her fault.

Taking out her phone, she began to go through the list of her ride-or-die gals as she rung them up one-by-one, utterly disappointed with every phone number she dialed. Maybe she should've told them about her situation if she knew what their responses would be.

"Did you get in a fight with Zack? I'm sorry, girl, my boyfriend just flew over _this_ morning, and so I—"

"It's fine, Jessie," Aerith assured, and the rest of her calls continued in a similar fashion.

Yuffie was out with her parents this weekend, so she couldn't house her even if she wanted to. Kyrie had exams to study for the weekend and so she wasn't fond of the idea of a sudden sleepover. As for Tifa, things were a bit awkward since the last time they talked, so Aerith didn't even bother calling.

She swore she didn't even think about where her footsteps were leading her as she scrolled through the phone for more female contacts that she felt comfortable calling as red, hot tears stung her eyes. She rounded the blocks and crossed the streets of the off-campus apartments automatically, and it was only when a voice called out to her when she realized her mistake.

"Aerith?"

Her thumbs stopped their rapid scrolling as her body froze when she heard the familiar voice.

And when she looked up, her cracked heart instantly mended without the need of tape nor stitches.

A plastic bag was in his hands, condensation glistening slightly against the sun—ice cream. With black cardigan sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black jeans sported on a hot day, the young man didn't seem to check the weather app before he left his front door. Then again, he hadn't expected anything besides retrieving his sought-out ice cream from the local convenience store, so when his eyes recognized the girl in front of him, he nearly dropped his bag.

"Cloud," Aerith whimpered, and her tears finally fell out of her eyes and dripped onto the grey, cement floors. "Hi."

"It's really you. Why are you here—and what happened?"

When Cloud took a few steps closer so that they could finally meet each other properly, Aerith simply shook her head. Without another word, she launched at him, bringing him down to her height as her arms flew around his neck, eyes pressed against his shoulders as she openly cried, right on the street where his apartment was located.

"Cloud!" she sobbed. "Cloud, I feel so betrayed!"

"Hey, hey," he gently beckoned her to quiet down as he held his bag in one hand while his other tried to return the hug in all of its awkward glory. He had to give a small, tight-lipped smile towards a couple who had walked by, questioning silently if the crying girl in his arms was okay. "How about we take this inside? Or else people will think I'm trying to assault you or something."

Amidst her crying, Cloud still managed to somehow make her crack a smile as she pulled away and nodded.

He led her into his apartment complex, but not without tearing his box of chocolate ice cream bars open and handing one to her. She took it gratefully before she ripped it out and sought refuge in its creamy, sugary delight.

When they entered the elevator, Cloud reached out a hand to press the button for his floor, but Aerith beat him to it on the other side as she naturally punched for the fifth as she sniffed rather unladylike, ice cream still in her mouth. If the situation wasn't so dire, Cloud would've made fun of how she looked.

"Hey, I gave it to you to eat, not to just store in your mouth like some freezer," sighed Cloud as he reached out and caught a drop of the vanilla inside before it hit the elevator floor. Aerith looked at him, sniffed one more time, and listened to his scolding as she cleaned up the drops that threatened to drip onto her hands with her tongue.

She didn't notice how Cloud had to look away from her ice cream licking.

"Does Biggs and Wedge still live with you?" she asked when they reached his door.

"Wedge moved out a few months ago. He graduated early," he mumbled in response as he jammed his key inside the knob and turned it. A click sounded before he pushed his door open, and Aerith guiltily took in the whiff of his nice-smelling apartment—a scent she had missed for a really long time. "Biggs is still here. And there he is now."

"Buddy, got the ice cream? Man, who knew it could get so hot in less than a wee—is that you, Aerith?"

"Hi," she lamely greeted. She didn't notice the dubious look Biggs gave Cloud as she took her shoes off. "Sorry for the intrusion."

"Here," Cloud tossed the plastic bag at the gamer who sat at the living room. Then, he nodded at Aerith the direction of his room. "Go inside. I'll be there in a sec."

"Okay," she softly voiced, and she escaped into the confinements of his room. When the door closed, Biggs instantly zoomed in on him.

"Should I even ask?"

"I got no answers to give you anyway," Cloud sighed as he swung the fridge open and got out two cold water bottles.

"Wanna hand me a spoon while you're at it? And please, kick me out if you guys are going to have sex. No hard feelings."

" _Biggs_ ," Cloud threw the spoon, hoping to inflict some damage, but the young man caught it smugly in his hand before he dipped it into his carton of ice cream.

"There's only reason why she's here again after three years. Shall we throw a party to celebrate?"

Cloud didn't even bother saying anything back before he passed by the living room to head into his room, but not without giving Biggs a nice hit to the head.

"Just play your games without pressing your ear to the door, m'kay?"

"No thanks, I don't want to hear any lewd sou—"

Cloud didn't stay to hear the rest of the sentence as he walked into his room and slammed the door shut with more force than necessary.

"Aerith, I got you some wa—just what are you doing?"

His eye twitched when he saw her form already on his bed, curled pitifully underneath his blankets as her soft sniffling muffled against them. He could already imagine how terribly tear-stained they would be as he came over and bonked the water bottle against her blanketed form. "C'mon, get up. Let's not cry like this in _my_ bed."

"Just let me have my moment," Aerith whined when he grabbed the sheets by her feet and tore them off of her. "Cloud, I'm _sensitive_ right now."

"I know I'm emotionally dumb and all, but you don't need to spell something so obvious," he scoffed. "I've known you for too long."

"And yet you're still by my side, even when I kicked you to the curb."

Cloud hadn't expected her to suddenly say something like that, so he stood, frozen in front of her as she wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes and sat up.

"Did Zack say something to upset you again?"

The last time she had cried to him like this was a month ago, and it was through the phone while the last time she stepped foot into his room was three _years_ ago, so asking if Zack had "said something to upset her again" was a huge understatement as he opened the water bottle and handed it to her.

"Thanks." Aerith downed the entire thing in one go, earning an impressed brow from Cloud. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she gave the empty bottle back to Cloud, who successfully tossed it into the recycling bin of his room before he took the chair by his desk, pulled it over to the bedside, and sat on it.

"Should I not ask?" Cloud spoke again when Aerith refused to answer him. "Which is fine for me too. Stay here for as long as you want, but I think you should go back as soon as possible, or else Zack will—"

"He cheated on me," she finally blurted out.

Cloud nearly stubbed his toe against the leg of his bed when his leg moved instinctively out of surprise. Those words were supposed to drown him with sadness, with grief for her and her unfortunate discovery, but instead, his heart soared at the revelation, and he had to suppress it as a frown appeared against his forehead.

"Cheat? Zack Fair? What do you mean? Like, with another girl?"

"What do you think 'cheating' means?" she snapped, but she instantly muttered a quick "sorry" when she realized how she was just taking it out on him. " _Yes_ , I caught him making out with some Wendy girl!"

"… But Zack?" The stupor was evident on his face as he tried to connect Zack to the sinful act. Zack was a gentleman—he would never do something like that. Because of his disbelief, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure?"

"Cloud, look me in the eye," and Aerith shoved her face right up close to Cloud's, causing him to instantly back away. "Look—do my eyes seem dysfunctional to you?"

"But Zack—"

"Yes! I know! That's why I'm just as shocked as you! How could he?" Aerith scrambled over to the floor to grab his fallen blankets and bring it over to cover her entire body again, secretly relishing in Cloud's sweet, sweet scent. It smelled so good, and it brought a peace over her mind despite what just happened to her. "I feel so betrayed right now, just let me absorb it all, and I'll be out of your way, Cloud."

"I just said you could stay as long as you want, and now that you've told me what happened… feel free to just stay over," said Cloud, also letting it sink in, but his feelings were probably the opposite of hers regarding the whole thing. However, he didn't let his personal feelings get in the way of what he had to say next. "Are you not going to talk to him?"

"For what? To make up? Sorry, I don't date cheaters," mumbled Aerith, and she turned her body so that she could face her best friend. However, she shouldn't have, because his caring, sapphire eyes glowed in concern for her, despite the usual nonchalant look he always adorned on his face. Her heart squeezed at his handsomeness before she buried against his blankets once more, continuing to ignore the twinges her heart kept giving her whenever she looked at the blond. "I stayed with him when he lost one of the most important people in his life. I was his shoulder to lean on, to cry to when he felt the loneliest. He said that I was the only one there for him, and that I was so important to him! And he repays me by making out with girl on the kitchen counter!"

Cloud winced when Aerith let out an anguished scream, and he couldn't tell if it was out of sadness or out of an intent to kill. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but he already had a bright idea about who it was even before he took it out and checked it. Aerith continued to ramble on as he tried to focus on two tasks at the same time.

_Biggs: Look, I respect the bro code. Just put the sock on the door anytime and I'll be out in a jiffy._

Cloud pinched his nose at the obnoxious text as he typed out a reply.

"He was one of my best friends too—my comrade. And he dares do that to me! Cloud! Are you listening to me?"

"Always," he accidentally let out truthfully. He internally cringed at how soft he sounded for her, but judging with the way her expression seemed to relax at his reassurance, he motioned with a hand for her to continue as he hovered his finger to press send to the man outside in the living room.

His phone dropped out of his hand before he could do so when Aerith suddenly sat back up and pulled him over into an awkward hug from the bed, burying her face into his shoulder just like she did earlier.

He blinked a bit before he got off of his chair and sat on his bed so that he could return her hug better. Then, he heaved a heavy sigh, one that Aerith took as annoyance. "Look, it's going to be alright. If what you said is true—"

"Which it is."

"—then you don't need to cry over some asshole like him," Cloud finished, muscled arms cradling her fragile figure as he patted her back in a comforting rhythm. He sighed in her hair, guiltily basking in her warmth—a warmth that he had been deprived of ever since she cut off their sleepovers and reduced the amount of time they hung out for Zack, who had not been comfortable with their closeness. "But cry all you want if it makes you feel better. I'll be here. My room can be your safe space for now."

"Why are you so nice to me?" Aerith whimpered. If Cloud hadn't known any better, he would've thought that she was more emotional over that fact than over Zack's cheating issue. "After everything I've done to you. I left you for Zack, but you've always been here for me, even when you were in a relationship with—"

"I didn't know getting a boyfriend would suddenly make you not my friend anymore," stated Cloud. "Which it doesn't, if you plan on retorting that fact."

Aerith shook her head. "I'm sorry for wasting your time. It seemed like you and Biggs were in the middle of something, and I just busted my ass over here and—"

"Just a weekend where the boys play games," he assured her. Noticing how loose her ribbon was and how her hair threatened to just spill out of its ponytail, Cloud gently moved his hands up to her head so that he could untie it from its restraints to redo all of it. Aerith exhaled in contentment into his shoulder as she felt his fingers attempt to straighten all her tangles out, and it took all of her willpower not to just cuddle into him, to seek protection from his strong build.

 _Your boyfriend just cheated on you, and you're just happily in the arms of somebody else_? the voice inside her scolded. _Aren't you supposed to be heartbroken?_

Heartbroken?

The thought finally reached her head as she finally took the time to think. Yes, she was feeling sad and, of course, betrayed, but the blaring fact that her boyfriend just cheated on her didn't seem to make her feel… _heartbroken._ Or was she, and she was just not recognizing it as such? She would've imagined that heartbreak was painful—painful to the point where she couldn't breathe, where her chest ached and contorted in a way that made her voice disappear and her tears pool at her chin, like a forgotten water faucet that dripped and collected into the sink. Perhaps the shock of Zack's betrayal was getting to her first, and the heartbreak would follow after. That was probably why. The pain would come later, a pain that would probably hurt, hurt more than when Cloud got a—

Cloud reached over to the dresser that was leveled with his bed and grabbed the hairbrush from it, one that Aerith did not recognize as hers. With its thick width, there was no way it was a man's hairbrush. Before he could run it through her hair, she interrupted him.

"… Do you have a new girlfriend?"

"What?" Cloud pulled them apart so that he could softly work at the tangles at her hair. His actions seemed so natural, making Aerith's breath catch in her throat at his tender motions. "What makes you think I have a new one?"

"What, are you gonna try to convince me that this is your hairbrush?"

"Oh," Cloud detached the thing from her hair as he looked at it stupidly, as if he didn't recognize it at first too before it dawned on him. "It's… Tifa's."

"… Oh."

Aerith didn't question further as she allowed him to brush _her_ hair with _Tifa's_ hairbrush, and that didn't sit well with her, but she give no any indication of such. Instead, she simply closed her eyes as he leaned forward closer to her shoulder so that his eyes could peer over it and work at the hair behind her back.

Cloud secretly hoped she wouldn't question why she couldn't just turn around so that he could brush it easier instead of just wrapping his arms around her just to get to her back. He liked it, the way how if the both of them coincidentally turned towards each other at the same time, they could meet in a kiss, one that could potentially evolve into something else, and that sock could finally be put on the door outside, and his bed could then be stained by her scent, smell already tantalizing as he brushed her hair, and their legs could get tangled across the sheets while their hands could be underneath each other's shirts, something he had wanted for years, and when his mind started to wander into places he had forbidden himself from venturing, prevented himself from ever imagining, he pinched himself real hard at the skin of his wrist so that he could come back to reality, to play the role of the best friend he was supposed to be. To not celebrate having the girl he was in love with for so many years potentially single again and instead do what he was here for—to comfort her broken heart. Not to have such guilty, despicable thoughts.

"Shit."

"Hm? What's wrong, Cloud?" Aerith pulled away, and he wished he hadn't let his frustration slip out in the form of a curse.

"Nothing. Are you okay? You stopped crying."

And because she stopped crying, he took this moment to fully scoot away so that there was a respectable distance between them again.

"Don't worry, it'll come again soon," Aerith deadpanned, but she herself felt unsure about that as she placed a hand over her head in agony, soft, brown curls falling off her shoulder.

"Here, turn around. Let me retie your hair."

"Don't," she shook her head. Her eyes bore holes at the pink, silky ribbon that was clasped in his hand. "I don't want that thing on my head right now."

Instantly assuming that it was a gift from the sinner, Cloud stood up from his bed and headed over to the trash can. He held the ribbon between his thumb and index finger above the entrance, an eyebrow cocked upward at her for permission.

"So, is this something you want exterminated from your presence?" he smirked.

Aerith glumly nodded as her eyes stared blankly at the material that must've costed the bitch a fortunate. "Do it away."

"Consider it done." And Cloud let it un-dramatically fall into his waste bin before he wiped his hands clean from the thing. However, his eyes softened when she continued to stare at the bin. "But it's empty if you want to go over and get it again."

"Please, I got so many other things to worry about than a stupid ribbon," groaned Aerith as she pinched her eyebrows together. "Cloud, I don't have a place to stay, my car is back at home because my mom's broke down and she needs mine for work, and all my damn clothes are over at his place. I don't even know where to start. Ugh! I'm going to go crazy!"

Cloud sat back down at his chair as he gazed at her frustrated form in sympathy. Not knowing what to say because Aerith's heartbreak was the last thing he ever expected to comfort—because Zack was, by far, one of the most nicest people he had ever met, and so he couldn't fathom the idea of him ever cheating on someone as precious as Aerith—he simply just sat there, listening as she vented her anger.

"Maybe I should've just bit my tongue and just _stayed_ for a little bit just so that I could pack and find a place to live and just get _settled_ before my foot met his knee and my hand threw at him eggs!"

"You _what?_ " Cloud spluttered, eyes widening by a slim margin. "Knee? _Eggs?_ "

"Yes! I kicked him, splattered eggs on his face, and threw his damn key away as if I had another place to go to like the darn fool I was! Ugh, I should've just kept my mouth shut."

"Okay, Aerith, I take back what I said—I don't want you here just to cry," Cloud awkwardly stood up from his chair as he rubbed the back of his neck, scanning his room for something—anything—for them to do to get her mind away from spiraling down the familiar road of rumination. After all, he would know.

He then squatted in front of her, hands on her knees when he found nothing in his boring room as he tried to look her in the eye. "Look, Aerith, both you and me know fully well that you would _not_ want to stay at his place after catching him almost ready to bang some girl in the stupid kitchen."

"… No, I wouldn't."

"And if you don't have a place, then you can just stay here for the time being."

Aerith instantly frowned at this, but before she could interject how she couldn't possibly waste anymore of his time, space, and energy, he continued, "Biggs wouldn't mind—I'm sure you guys were _this_ close to being my personal devils when you still came over regularly, and I, of course, wouldn't mind. Couches are comfortable for a reason."

"Cloud, I'm not going to kick you out of your own room," Aerith argued. "I'm already here, burdening you with something that you didn't even ask for or—"

"I already said it's _fine_ ," he persuaded. "I would be _such_ an asshole if I kicked you out now that I know that you have no car, no roof, nor any of your belongings."

Aerith finally remained silent, and he gave her a small, closed-mouth smile in response. Then, he sighed when he thought about it before he finally offered his services. "As for your belongings, I'll deal with it."

"… What do you mean?"

"If you don't want to see his face, I'll somehow work with him and get your stuff, okay? I'm sure Jessie wouldn't mind beating his ass for you if I bring her along too."

Inside, he really didn't want to see Zack again. While they had been good friends before him and Aerith got together, things got awkward and uncomfortable real quick once they did. Biggs was a real pal and never broke any bro codes when he got a girlfriend, but the same couldn't be said about Zack. Cloud knew how much Aerith struggled between the two of them, so he had made her job easier and accepted the fact that their hangouts weren't going to be as frequent anymore, but that still didn't quell Zack's jealousy. However, he had to suck it up, because he wasn't going to let Aerith just deal with all of this herself. "Alright?"

"If it doesn't trouble you," she finally conceded, a guilty look strewn across her face. "Will you be okay though?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Zack's pretty strong."

Cloud had to take a moment to figure out what she meant before he laughed, _hard,_ earning a slap on the shoulder from her. "Do you think we're going to enter a fistfight or something? I think we're both older than that. Plus, I'll give him a call first later, okay?"

"… Okay."

"And take all the time you need to get over this… heartbreak."

Heartbreak. There it was again. Aerith clasped the cloth at her chest, wondering if she was just numb and overwhelmed with the fact that she literally had no home right now. When Cloud gave her a small smile, she wanted nothing more than to just climb all over him, to hug him and snuggle her face into his neck and do everything a girl who just got cheated on by her boyfriend _shouldn't_ do to her best friend. To the best friend who was always there for her, who always listened to her unearthly, banshee-replicated cries, who always bought her favorite foods for her whenever she had mascara running down her cheeks, who always dealt with her temper tantrums. This was the biggest tantrum yet, but he was just so _gentle_ and _kind_ and everything she ever wanted before she ever got with—

No. _Bad Aerith._ She sucked in a breath. _Bad, bad Aerith._

"Have you ever dealt with heartbreak?" asked Aerith in an attempt to get her mind off of useless, unimportant thoughts.

When he heard her question, he stared at her, a bit shocked, before he ran a shaky hand through his hair and sat back down at his chair.

"Yes."

The heartbreak must've been coming, for Aerith's heart suddenly clenched at his answer. He didn't notice the internal conflict battling inside her head as he looked away from her and leaned an elbow against the armrest, letting his chin rest on a fist. "It was bad."

"… I'm so sorry, Cloud."

For a moment, he thought he had ratted himself out, that all his cards were suddenly spread across the table along with his feelings for her, that their friendship was going to end _right now_ with her apology, but what she said next made him take a small, sharp inhale in relief. "It's all my fault that Tifa broke up with you. I should've never bombed your phone the way I did during your relationship whenever I had issues because—"

"Aerith, I already said that it's not your fault." _It's mine._ "Stop blaming yourself for our break-up." _Because I never loved her_. "And Tifa doesn't either." _And she knew._

"You guys were so cute together, and I could see how much you cared about her, Cloud," and her tears suddenly came back as she fully believed that she had wrecked a perfectly healthy relationship. "I mean, her stuff is still here! After a year since you broke up!" For emphasis, Aerith grabbed the hairbrush and waved it at his face, which he guiltily took away.

There was no reason why he hadn't cleaned out her stuff. He just never cared to spare the time to—that was how much Tifa meant to him. No, Tifa was a great friend, and she was an absolutely beautiful soul—a kindred spirit that was so selfless and genuine—but during the two years they were together, Cloud couldn't bring himself to love her fully. His hand had always guiltily reached for his phone every time they were together, to check if he had any news from the brunette, and if he had, he would drop everything he was doing just to be by her side, even if it meant standing Tifa up on dates countless of times.

And it wasn't a coincidence that he got with Tifa around the same time Aerith got with Zack.

He winced when he realized how much of a jerk he was towards Tifa, and made a note to secretly make it up to her by treating her out to their next dinner. After all, a break-up such as theirs never broke their friendship, but Aerith had different ideas.

"Keep trying to sugarcoat it for me," Aerith sniffed, unconvinced. "But I'll drop it since I don't want to bring up such a sensitive topic."

 _It's fine_ , he wanted to tell her, but because he didn't want to continue leading her on with the false pretense of his undying love for Tifa, he let it go and sighed.

"Come. Let's get out."

"Hm?" Aerith watched as Cloud opened the door and signaled for her to go through it. "To do what?"

"I'm sure shooting games with me and Biggs will make you feel better," he stated matter-of-factly. "Beats hanging around in my room all day just rotting in your own puddle of tears."

"Nice way of putting it," she rolled her eyes before she agreed to his plans to pass the time. Already, she felt lighter, knowing how much Cloud was offering to do for her in order to make the burden on her shoulders lessen. Again, as a form of thanks before they left his room, Aerith wrapped her arms around his neck, trapping him in a hug that caused his heart to leap up his throat. "Thank you, Cloud. For everything. I don't know where I would be right now without you."

"Of course," he managed to choke out as he automatically curled his arms around her waist. He wanted to hold her tighter, to bring her form flush against his, but he knew that doing so would be questionable, so he had to settle with the supportive hug as he patted her with a hand like before, giving her the assurance that no matter where his personal feelings stood, he would support anything she did.

Even if that meant watching her fall in love with someone else other than him for a second time.

_Damn._

He let her go before his thoughts could get anymore depressing, and he led her back into the living room where Biggs sat, ice cream long gone and put back into the freezer as he mashed the buttons of his controller like some typewriter. When he saw the two of them come in from his peripheral vision, he paused his game and shot them both a curious look.

"So, what happened?"

"Zack cheated on me," Aerith blatantly stated, surprising both Biggs and Cloud with her honesty. "So, hook me up with a game with a lot of hitting, killing, whatever the sorts."

"Never thought those words would ever spill from your innocent vocabulary," Biggs chuckled, but he nonetheless tossed her a controller. "How does _Grand Theft Auto_ sound like to you?"

"Perfect."

"Oh no, you're enabling her," Cloud groaned, but he cracked a small smile as him and Aerith sat besides Biggs in front of the TV.

Cloud didn't know how long, but he, along with Biggs, managed to endure two hours of Aerith just running people over, beating random people up, and trolling just the entire city as she laughed maniacally. When Biggs gave Cloud a concerned look tinged with amusement, the blond simply shrugged and shook his head.

"Just let her be," he mouthed, and Biggs gave him a thumbs up behind Aerith's back as she committed double suicide with her character and another.

"Please, don't go morbid on me," Cloud commented, but Aerith only gave him another crazy laugh in response.

Another twenty minutes, and she finally grew tired of the game.

"I want to take a nap. Can I take a nap? A nap would be great right now."

At this away from Aerith's eyes, Biggs suggestively tugged at one of his socks and gestured towards Cloud's door knob with his grinning eyebrows. Cloud secretly flipped him the middle finger before he led Aerith back into his room, where she instantly collapsed back onto his sheets.

"Thanks, guys. I didn't know you were going to be _that_ supportive of me just going crazy on a game to vent everything out," sighed Aerith as she hugged onto his pillow. "But because of all that energy, I'm really tired."

"When do you want me to wake you up?" Cloud rolled his chair over back to his desk and sat at it. He turned on the lamp and opened his glasses case, taking his lens out and placing it on the bridge of his nose before he turned back to look at her.

"When did you wear glasses?" Aerith asked softly.

"Like, four months ago? My eyesight started to get worse, so I have to wear them now when I do work if I don't wear my contacts."

Even this painfully plucked at her heartstrings. Four months ago, and she didn't even know if her best friend got glasses—that was how much they had drifted, just because of her selfishness.

"Are you going to do work?"

"Mhm, well, I have stuff to catch up on. This is a good time to." Cloud opened the drawer underneath his desk as he took out his notes and pencil case. He didn't see the way Aerith was studying him.

"… You look really cute with glasses."

Nearly choking, he managed a quick "thanks" before he suppressed the coughing. He clicked his pen nervously a couple of times before he opened the books and began to go at it. He hadn't even noticed how he didn't get an answer to his question, but it didn't matter.

She wasn't sleeping just yet.

When thirty minutes of silence passed, Cloud was deeply immersed into his work, already assuming that the girl he loved was already asleep in his bed. The dumb physics problems were enough to subdue his brain cells from thinking any weird thoughts as he tapped his pen lightly against his knee, making sure it wasn't too annoying or loud enough to wake her up.

"Cloud."

He jolted when her voice broke through the silence, and his eyes instantly whipped over to look at her.

She did not look like she fell asleep at all.

"What is it? Something wrong? Want me to get something for y—"

"Come nap with me."

His lips immediately parted open in surprise at her request. Just when he was about to empty his ears by banging his palm against them—because _surely_ , these physics problems were doing more than just killing his brain cells—Aerith reached a hand out towards him.

"Please?" she urged, and in less than ten seconds, he found himself beckoning under her will, obedient to do anything that would make her feel better as he left his pen and glasses on his desk and laid beside her.

He made sure to keep a good distance so that nothing—not even their clothes—could touch. He positioned himself on his side so that he could face her, an eyebrow slightly raised in question as her soft smile gleamed under the soft rays of sunset bleeding through his window.

"Feeling lonely?" he assumed.

The beautiful girl nodded against his pillow as she faced him as well, hair pooled angelically against the white of his sheets, and it took him all he could to not reach a hand and grasp at the soft tresses.

"Yeah. I just… want someone by my side right now. If that's okay with you."

"Um, if my company is enough for you," he answered stupidly.

That wasn't meant to give permission to anything, so he stiffened when Aerith crept up closer to him and laid her head against his chest, a hand on his side as she clutched at the soft fabric of his cardigan. He could feel her breathe him in as she took in the scent of his freshly-washed white tee, making him all dizzy as his hand itched to hold her.

But he held himself back. He couldn't. Before him was the girl he loved, but she was also unstable, and he did not touch unstable girls, especially unstable girls who just got cheated on.

But he guiltily let her touch him anyway, allowed her to move her hands from his side to his shoulder down his arm and back to his side before she finally snaked it to his back, crushing her form against his as she continued to hide her face into the crook of his neck. He had to suppress the shiver that wanted to run down his back from the way her hot breath brushed against a sensitive spot right above his collarbone.

This was God's way of tormenting him, to test him on how much self-restraint he had in his body, to see how he would cope with the fact that the woman he loved for so many years was wrapped around him, but he couldn't even lay a hand on her—not even one finger.

His rope of control nearly snapped too when Aerith questioned him. "Won't you hug me back?"

"No, I won't," he replied painfully.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not supposed to."

"Then why won't you pull away?"

_Because I love you and I'm just guiltily enjoying this._

"Because I want to be here for you."

"…"

Just when he thought she had given up, he felt something soft press against his neck, and he didn't even need another second to know what it was.

"Aerith, stop." He didn't know what he was expecting when he listened to her request to nap with her as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder to pull her off. He nearly slipped out a groan when she continued to pepper kisses at that same spot as he let out a shaky breath. "C'mon, don't do this."

"What if I said I wanted it?" she vibrated against his neck. "I mean, I'm okay with it."

"You say that, but inside, you're not," he tried to convince her. He needed to pull away, no matter how good the tingles of pleasure that kept radiating from his neck were. He finally took all of his willpower and concentrated it to one single spot as he sat back up, disconnecting her mouth from his neck as he placed a hand over it, soothing the burn she placed as his eyes grew heavy.

"You don't find me attractive?" she whispered. It tore at his heart to hear her say something like that, so he answered her without even thinking about what he could lose.

"Of course, I do," he confessed.

She then leaned in closer to him, shuffling the sheets below her as she neared his mouth.

"Then make me feel better."

Right there and then, his self-control almost plunged and he almost pushed her back against the bed to kiss her and listen to her every request and wish, but his desire to show Aerith something better than this impulsiveness was stronger, and so, he pushed her away with both his hands, making sure there was strength in his arms just in case she suddenly launched herself at him.

Then, he said it.

"Aerith, I'm not rebound. I'm your best friend."

That was enough to break the spell she was in, for the moment his words rung in her ears like some overly played chimes, her eyes widened, and tears slipped out of her eyes.

"I'm being such a _whore_ right now."

Aerith instinctively retracted her form away from Cloud, horrified at what she was doing as she pulled her knees against her chest, as if doing so could make her shrink and make all the shame and embarrassment about what she was about to do to her best friend disappear.

Knowing how he was now in the clear, Cloud swiftly brought her frail form against him for another hug, shaking his head as he held her against his chest in both security and warmth.

"Don't call yourself that."

"Look at me. My boyfriend just cheated on me and here I am, trying to get on you. Just what kind of person am I becoming?"

"You're not becoming anything," Cloud argued with her, knowing how all her emotions were just in a crazed array. "You're just not feeling well because the boyfriend that you loved betrayed you, and—"

"I don't love Zack."

Cloud's hold on her loosened when she dared to say those words. He could feel his eyebrows move in various motions as he tried to dissect what she could've possibly meant, but his mouth worked before his brain did.

"What are you talking about? Aerith, you're just in shock right now. You don't have to convince yourself to—"

"Cloud, I _don't_ love Zack," she repeated, and she never sounded so sure just a few hours before. She then pulled apart from him. "I don't love him. I don't. I just didn't want _you_ to think I'm a whore. Because I… I—"

"You what?" he half-whispered, his heart drumming against his ears as a lump horribly hitched at his throat, rendering his voice barely audible. Based on everything she was saying right now, it was as if… as if…

"Cloud, you're so kind and thoughtful, and you don't even need to use a lot of words to express it because your actions do," she began to cry as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "You're so sweet, and I have no idea why you're still here by my side, despite how messy I am. You're a person who respects everything and everyone. Look at me! Any guy would've had his way with me already, but you _respect_ me, and I just… Tifa was so lucky to have someone like you, I have no idea why she left. You're everything that a girl would want. You're… You're everything _I_ would want. In a friend. In a man," and then she whispered the last part, "as a _lover_."

She clasped onto his face with her two hands, and this time, Cloud didn't resist as she pulled his lips closer to hers. "Cloud, I think all this time, I've been in love with y—"

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_

Cloud jumped away from Aerith when his phone vibrated and rang incessantly loud in his pocket, shocking the both of them out of the moment. Aerith blushed heavily before he quickly stood up from the bed and took his phone out to see and thank who just saved him from making a mistake.

_Zack Fair._

"Ah, fuck," Cloud cursed out loud as he messed up the hair at the back of his head frustratedly as his eyes trained on the caller ID.

Noticing the change in his mood drastically, Aerith frowned. "Who is it?"

"I'll be right back," he muttered. Not wanting Aerith to hear whatever conversation that was going to take place whatsoever, he didn't allow her to say another word as he exited his door and slammed the door shut.

"You good, dude?" Biggs called out from the living room.

"Yeah. Just make sure Aerith doesn't come outside."

"I won't question you."

"Thanks."

Cloud closed the door to his apartment as he leaned his back against it, phone still ringing in his hand. Before it completely ended, he picked up at its last ring. He made sure his voice was civil before he spoke.

"Hey, what's up?"

Zack didn't beat around the bush. "Aerith's with you, isn't she?"

"… So, what if she is?"

A small chuckle reverberated on the other side of the line. Cloud nearly boiled over with anger with the way he sounded so flippant, but all of it simmered down within the snap of a finger when the chuckle turned darker and darker, until his voice reduced to become one belonging to a broken man.

"It has always been you." It was a statement, firm and crisp. But Cloud didn't understand it, and because he didn't understand it, he casted it off to the side.

"Zack, I heard you cheated on her," Cloud said. He surprised himself with how soft he sounded, but it was probably because he still had some faith in the man. Perhaps Aerith had been mistaken, even though it would make what she had seen to be just a mere illusion or hallucination on her part, but with Zack suddenly becoming silent, that type of silly thought dimmed immediately.

"I won't make any excuses about it. Yes, I guess you could say that I cheated on her."

"You guess?" Cloud spat. "Do you know how much she's hurting right now?"

"Considering it's her and that she's at your place, I have no worries."

"How could you say something like that?"

Zack breathed heavily against the phone. "If we're talking about cheating, then she has been the one cheating on me all along. Just not physically."

"Zack, _what_ are you spouting right no—"

"But emotionally," he cut, and he silenced the blond. "And I'm surprised you haven't noticed it."

Catching his drift, Cloud agitatedly shook his head, but when he realized how the raven-haired couldn't see him, he voiced out both his confusion and his anger. "I thought we've gone over this. There was never anything between me and Aerith. I even dated Tifa for the two years you guys were together for the past three. She was _faithful_ to you, and to prove that to you, she even took it far and cut me off from seeing her like we used to. You know that, right?"

"I know."

"Then how could you just betray her like that?"

"Cloud, it seems like you've gotten so used to her that you don't realize how lucky you are," Zack said straightly. "If you were in my shoes, you'd understand why I did what I did, even though I didn't want to. Even though I love her so much, she drove me to become as wretched as I am right now."

"Zack, do you really have the _audacity_ to blame Aerith right now in this situation? I'm not following you," Cloud replied hotly. He didn't understand any of the stuff he was spouting, and it sounded like he knew something he didn't. But what was it?

"You dense idiot," and some of his usual, mirthful tone returned as he laughed into the phone, surprising the blond. "She's been loving you all this time, and you still haven't noticed it?"

Cloud nearly dropped his phone. "W-what?"

"Do you know what's ironic?" Zack asked ruefully. When Cloud didn't answer, he continued. "Even when she cut you off, do you know how sad she was? Do you know how much she longed for you? How legit _depressed_ she got when you dated Tifa? How long she kept staring at her phone, just waiting for a call or text from you, only to receive nothing? Only to succumb to her wants and call and text _you_ first? Do you know how much she suppressed her feelings just so that she could be with me, someone she felt sorry for?"

"She loved you," Cloud whispered, still in denial, but he could already imagine Zack just shaking his head at him.

"No, she never did. She felt sorry for me because _I_ basically begged her to stay by my side after my grandfather—my only family—died. To be with me when I was in my most vulnerable state, and you know how kind and beautiful she is—she would never leave someone like me alone, especially when she knows that she's the only one a person has. Tell me—did she ever say she loved me?"

His protests against Zack started to die down as he heard the raw emotions from the heartbroken man on the other side. "Zack…"

And when he thought about his question, Cloud realized that no, she didn't. She never did. Not even today, as she cried. She cried about many things, such as her lack of material and a home and how betrayed she felt, but she never said anything about her feelings for Zack. Then, it started to sink in for him.

"I spent the past three years trying to win her heart from you—I even thought living together would make it happen—but to sum it up at the end, I never had the chance to because _you_ were the only one deep within her heart. Every time she was feeling troubled, she would never come to me—she came to _you_. And guess what finally happened to me after three years of not receiving love from the one I loved the most?"

"Zack, I'm sorr—"

"I responded to the feelings of someone who did," he blankly stated. "And that's what happened today, unfortunately. I never wanted Aerith to know this way because I knew she would be hurt, but now that it has turned out this way, I know she'll be okay at the end."

"You can't say that for sure," Cloud tried to argue one last time, not sure why he was even trying to. His earlier feelings of throwing a celebration were replaced with actual feelings of sadness—the way it was supposed to be—as he heard these heart-wrenching words from his dear, old friend.

Knowing how his message had finally reached the blond, his bittersweet laughter sounded in his ears. "I'm free for her—or you—to just come over and pick up her stuff. I won't say anything. No drama. Promise. And when the both of us are ready to talk, then we will. That time's just not now. Yeah?"

Cloud felt like he had so many things left to say, but he didn't as he numbingly answered with an "okay."

"Great. I'll… see you around, Cloud."

"… See you around."

"Take care of her."

Zack ended the call.

Cloud let his arm fall to his side as his phone hung loosely in his grip. Mind completely dazed, he didn't know how long he stood there before he realized that he had stayed out too long, and Aerith was surely not stupid enough to not know who he had been on the phone with.

But he didn't know if he could face her after hearing all of the stuff Zack just told him. Was he telling the truth?

It all sounded too good to be true.

Knowing that he couldn't just stand outside his apartment door like a creep the entire day just to ponder how much reality Zack's words held, Cloud sucked in a breath and braced himself before he opened the door.

And he squished Aerith against the wall as a result.

"Cloud!" she squeaked.

At the sound of her distress, Cloud swiftly swung the door back as he slipped through the small entrance he made for himself.

There stood Aerith, guiltily snooping around, trying to hear what had been going on through the door. His eyes glared at Biggs, who simply gave him a smirk and a shrug before he returned to his game.

"Really?" he questioned, gaze hard on her, but his chest fluttered wildly the moment he saw her beautiful, celestial form.

Zack said that this woman loved him.

_Him._

Not Zack Fair.

But _Cloud Strife._

The idea of her staying over suddenly became dangerous as she gave him a worried look, not at all suspecting what sort of thoughts ran through his mind at the moment.

"… Was it Zack?"

Since there was no point in hiding, Cloud nodded. "He said that I can go pick up your stuff anytime."

"… Is he okay?"

Cloud almost wanted to laugh. This woman just asked him if her lover, who had just cheated on her, was _okay_.

Not wanting to correct her about how she should worry about her own wellbeing now that he knew the bigger picture, he said, "Yes. He's managing."

"Wendy will be by his side," Aerith scoffed, returning back to her scorn as she crossed her arms and pouted a silly pout.

Still in a daze, he blurted it before he could stop himself. "You're cute."

Aerith widened her eyes at him. "W-what?"

"What?" Cloud blinked before he shut his mouth and stormed into his room with an Aerith following closely behind. Biggs simply enjoyed the show of the couple running back and forth out of the room as he tossed imaginary popcorn into his mouth.

"Bro code, my dude, bro code," he muttered to himself before he returned to his games.

In his room, the two stared at each other as they began to remember their moments before the phone had rung. With newfound information about her supposed feelings for him, Cloud couldn't keep still as he kept playing with his hands, making sure that they were at the right distance with the right amount of space between them. He didn't know if he could resist anymore if Aerith suddenly started to attack him again.

"What did you guys talk about? It sounded pretty civil."

"What, expected some hand throwing and angry yelling?" Cloud quipped. "The call was… good. Got some things sorted out."

He shouldn't have said that.

"Sorted out? Did he explain why he did what he did?"

As he watched her, he now realized how she wasn't as emotional as he thought she would be after finding out Zack's unfaithfulness. She hadn't cried that much either, and he started to get nervous as he began to see her in a new light.

"Uh, he had a reason."

"… Seems like you're not going to tell me."

He slowly shook his head, feeling like it was wrong to just expose Zack since this was _their_ conversation to have, but wasn't he involved too, apparently? This could be their conversation as well.

His impulsivity got the best of him, so before he could think it through and the consequences—the possibility that things were not going to _ever_ be the same again if he said it—he confessed, "Zack said you were in love with me. Is this true?"

A painful, contorting silence weighed in the air, pushing against their shoulders as his words hammered down a heavy statement. His eyes were trained on her and only her, watching every motion on her pretty face to extract anything he could to keep him sane from this excruciating wait for an answer, a response, _anything_.

Aerith's mouth dropped open, eyes shocked at what he just delivered. She moved to say the words, but nothing came out. The longer the milliseconds stretched, the more he felt his heart break, and the more he regretted even saying any of it.

Before he could change the subject, she finally spoke.

"How would you feel if that was true?"

He sharply inhaled, having enough of a capacity to give her a raised eyebrow in slight amusement. "So, we're going to play hot potato with questions?"

"Cloud, just _answer_ the question."

"I would bring you over," he admitted hotly, breath shaky as his world began to spin in guilty excitement. "And I would kiss you. And tell you how much I love y—"

Aerith didn't need to hear anymore before she wound her hands around his middle and together, the two of them fell back onto his bed, springs creaking noisily at their tumble. Before he could prop his elbows up so that he could somehow sit up, his lips were taken by hers, and his head fell back in contentment as he felt the electricity run amass throughout his entire body. Automatically, his hands flew to her back as her hands clutched as his shoulders, body hovering above his as she kissed him, and he eagerly responded back, letting all of his pent-up emotions out into their delightful connection.

For years, he imagined what it would be like, to have her on his bed and to kiss her like this—to indulge in his suppressed, affectionate feelings for her as he received back. Too many times had he imagined Tifa as Aerith whenever they made out in his room, and he would close his eyes, pretending her black hair was actually _brown_ , and the mouth that he kissed was _hers_ , and that Tifa's love was hers.

He brought his head forward so that he could angle their kiss better, fervently brushing against her soft and drug-addicting mouth as his hands tangled themselves in her angelic hair.

"Aerith." He turned her over so that he could be the one on top, pressing her into his pillows as he recaptured her mouth in their hot kiss. "Aerith."

"Cloud," she said back in their kiss, and she willingly opened her mouth so that he could explore it with his tongue, instantly feeling heat pool at her belly as his hand lovingly caressed her face.

It all felt like a dream to him, and he wouldn't stop and couldn't stop when he felt Aerith's hand creep underneath his shirt, and his under hers. His mind was blank, but his heart was full as he felt it fly up into the clouds, where he softly bounced and skipped on every one of them in happiness and fulfillment.

However, all dreams were too good to be true, and when he felt her tug at the waistband of his jeans, his mind instantly reeled back to realize what he was actually doing to her, to a girl who just had her boyfriend cheat on her. And just like that, he tore away from her, breathing heavy as he stood up on his knees above her, eyes glazed at her form sprawled against his bed.

"Cloud?" she questioned, hand running through her hair as she propped herself up with the other. "Something the matter?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that," he apologized regretfully, and his chest ripped when she gave him a pained expression. "Not when you're like this."

"Like what?"

"Like _this_ ," and his hands waved around at the space between them, as if doing so could clearly convey what he meant. He then sighed as he quelled his rapidly beating heart, erasing his urge to just forget it, go back to kissing her, and worry about it later. However, he wanted the best for her, to _show_ her the best, and doing it during her vulnerable state was not the move.

"Cloud, do you love me?" she daringly asked him.

"Yes," he answered confidently—there was no point in going back at this point— "But you're—"

"I—I think I love you t—"

Before she could finish that statement that could've been the death of him, he stopped her by gently placing a hand over her mouth, immediately earning eyes of question from her.

"You don't know that," he half-whispered. "Not when you're like this."

"But I don't love Zack," she persisted, but he continued to shake his head.

"That doesn't mean your feelings can automatically jump onto me so easily after three years of a committed relationship. What makes this any different than rebound?"

"But you're _not_ ," Aerith insisted. "Cloud, you're _special._ You've always been special. But I was just trapping myself in a relationship I didn't want. I didn't want it. Now, I'm revisiting the feelings I had for you before I got with him. You're the one I want. Cloud, I want to _be_ with you."

"If what you're saying is true, then I don't want it to start like this," he denied her feelings temporarily as he offered her a small smile. "I don't want us to have this sort of beginning when you were just with Zack just a few hours ago. You don't even have your stuff with you yet."

Aerith guiltily looked away as he slammed truth against her face. "So?"

"So," he continued, "You're going to spend a month or something to recover. You're going to hang out with Jessie, and Yuffie, and Kyrie, and, for the love of God, even _Tifa_ because even though things didn't end that well between you two, she still cares, and you're going to have those stupid so-called 'girls' night out' and pull yourself back up from your relationship with Zack. You're going to get fat—" he earned a glare at this, "—and watch all the chic flicks you need, and me along with the others will gladly torment ourselves with your hobbies until you're back on your feet. _Then_ , we can think about this." And he pointed a finger between the two of them. "Whatever this is."

"What if it doesn't work out?" Aerith dared to consider the outcome. "What if, in one month, we _don't_ see anything? And things don't—"

"If things don't work out, then that just meant we were never meant to be," he painfully let out in a soft tone. But then he pushed his personal feelings aside, just like he always did for her, and gave her another small smile. "But that just means we did what was right and thought it through before anything messy happened."

"… Am I going to lose you?"

"Aerith, no, of course not," he instantly shook his head. "Whatever happens, we're going to be okay. Heck, I still go shopping with Tifa to carry her damn stuff."

At the mention of Tifa, the revelation dawned on her, and Cloud knew exactly what she was thinking just by looking at her face.

"Did you break up because…"

"I never loved her? _Pfft_ , yeah," he shamelessly admitted. " _But_ ," he gave her a knowing look, "it's not your fault. We're both good now. I think Tifa's even getting along with some guy now at a coffee shop, and she has been telling me all about it. There's no bad blood between us. Promise."

Aerith looked at him uncertainly, but when the heat of their previous, intimate actions cooled, so did her insistence, and Aerith fell back into his bed, cuddling his sheets between her legs as she finally listened to his words. After all, he wasn't wrong when her feelings were all over the place, so she placed more confidence in trusting him than in trusting herself.

Glad that she was finally listening, Cloud made the motion to leave her be and possibly let her wallow in her thoughts, but she stopped him with a hand.

"Just for tonight," she finally said. "I… don't want to be alone tonight. Can we sleep together? Just sleep—nothing else. I promise."

Cloud looked hesitant to even give in to this tempting request, but when the genuineness in her eyes shined so pleadingly at him, he couldn't keep himself from slowly nodding.

"Okay. Do you want a change of clothes?"

She blinked. "If you have any."

Cloud got off his bed and went into his drawer. He made sure he didn't accidentally pick out Tifa's clothes as he finally picked out what he was looking for and threw it onto the bed for her. She crawled over to it, eyeing it curiously as she picked it up and examined it.

"If this is Tifa's, then I don't think I want to—"

"It's yours," he corrected. "It's been here from when you left it three years ago."

"… You kept it for this long?"

"Well, yeah, but it kinda just got lost in my drawers after it lost your sme—" Cloud snapped his mouth shut as quick as lightning before he said anything dumb, but he had already said enough to get the grin forming at the ends of her mouth.

"After it lost what, huh?"

"Nothing," he hotly denied, and he sat back down on the edge of his mattress. "Anything else? Let me know if you need anything. And think about what you want for dinner, I'll go grab it for you."

"You're so nice," Aerith mumbled into her old shirt as she looked at him. "Are you sure you won't leave me? Once you realize how much baggage I am?"

"If I wanted to leave because of baggage, I would've left the moment I met you back in high school," he jested, and this earned him a hit against the shoulder.

"I want a burger. Two of them. With a milkshake and fries."

"That's more like it."

He ruffled her head affectionately before he stood up and grabbed his keys from his desk, ready to fulfill her request immediately as he checked his phone for the time. "Anything else?"

"Wait for me."

He stilled his movements as she smiled at him.

There was some sort of promise lingering behind her words, but he didn't act on it as he simply gave her a small smile back.

After all, he knew that whatever happened after this month, he would always be by her side, and her to his, and that was never going to change. Ever.


End file.
